The hold was dark and tight, dim red lights reflected off of bulkhead supports and visor screens as Harkins looked from one side to another within the confines of the Orpheus super tank that held himself and the squad of Scythian special forces squad before they reached the deployment zone.

A dozen of them together in SIBAS battlesuits filled the holding bay that was designed to fit twice their number as the Super-Hover tank tore across the ice field or Ereberus three at over 80 kilometers an hour, the first of 10 Orpheus tanks in a loose "V" formation that sped towards the eastern landing pads of their target.

Ereberus three was a desolate and unforgiving ice world that barely held an atmosphere of violently noxious gasses to its surface, orbiting in a binary star cluster - each day time pass of the twin suns sterilized the planets surface of unprotected life forms on the planets ice skin.

As a result of this, the Scythian empire had built a research base under the ice two centuries ago, which had slowly expanded until it was gven stage-1 colony status a little over a decade ago and the research base was rebuilt even deeper into the ice as a small but respectable colony.

That was until, the Immortals arrived.

With a fleet of ships that outnumbered the token planetary defense fleet 50 to 1, they decimated the planets orbital defenses and launched drop ships and mining equipment to the surface and drilled their way down through the ice to the city, took up residence and dared the Scythian empire to retaliate.

So retaliate they did.

Harkins and 120 other Special forces marines made Landfall little over an hour ago via a stealth freighter and continued towards their target - to gain access to the city, disrupt communications and destroy as much as possible ahead of the main invasion force, or at least - that was the plan anyway.

Beyond the confines of the tank, the wind howled, and carried uncaring snow in its gentle grasp.

"E.T.A is less than one minute to target zone! Satellite recon is showing moderate resistance, Marines we are going in hot! Prepare for a smash and grab!" The tank commander yelled over the thunderous sounds on the Orpheus's engines against the howling wind.

"ALL TANK UNITS! PREPARE WEAPONS HOT AND READY TO FIRE, I WANT THESE BASTARDS FRIED AS WE HIT THE RAVINE!" The tank commander then relayed over the group comm system as the SIBAS suited marines released their weapon safety interlocks and counted down the last few heat pounding second before combat.

The first of the ten Orpheus Super-Hover tanks blasted over the last of the ice plain and over the edge of the ravine, in the distance the Imposing comms tower could be seen, a short, fat, gray structure that rested adjacent to the massive hangar bay doors that had been placed into the ice.

Surrounding the tower was a handful of Immortal units and vehicles at roughly company strength, 300 or so infantry in hostile environment suits backed up by a Pathfinder APC and 5 flat-based tanks that the Scythian's had not yet encountered.

The lead Orpheus opened fire with its twin Antimatter Projector Cannons, a technology that had been cobbled together from Scythian Antimatter technology and Gamma Corps rail guns, the turret tracked the lead Immortal tank and projected a molecule wide magnetic cone directly at it, which was then used to project a deadly arc of Antimatter slurry into the tanks hull.

The effect was as deadly as Scythian researchers had ever hoped, as the tanks Armour turned from reflective black Armour plates into a florid blue jelly-like surface that violently exploded in every direction, destroying the tank utterly and showering the nearby infantry in exotic, volatile particles that ripped through environment suits and flesh with disturbing ease.

As each Orpheus broke over the ravines edge, it opened fire and split from formation, carving arcs of destruction into the unprepared Immortal lines, infantry diving for cover as vehicles and debris either exploded or melted around them.

The lead Orpheus halted in the middle of the carnage and opened fire in ever direction with its four secondary laser Gatling cannons as its side door lowered and Harkins with the 11 other marines hit the solid metal of the hangar bay door below them.

Harkins dropped to one knee with trained precision and brought his rifle to bear as the two other marines of his fire group leveled their own weapons over his shoulders.

A target rich environment for 120 marines and 10 Super-Hover tanks - the result was bloody.

Harkins didn't even bother taking his own rifle off of auto fire as he sprayed fire into the Immortal soldiers who dared to present themselves, as did Larrisa, the Medic for his fire group, her own Armour adorned with specialized field surgical equipment and comms packages.

Over his left shoulder - Quaram hefted a massive PAVL MK-II laser, a generation ahead of the MK-I, the beast of a weapon was designed to be carried at the hip and consisted of three MK-I PAVL's on a Gatling system that rotated after each beam fired. His own SIBAS suit had been outfitted with additional Armour plating and servo systems to carry the additional load.

Every shot of the PAVL-II destroyed another chunk of debris, another hiding place, and between the combined fire of the force, the Immortals where quickly and efficiently being annihilated.

Before the last Immortal fell, Scythian marines where moving on their next objective - disable the comms tower and then gain access through the underground city through the hangar bay doors.

As Harkins downed his last Immortal soldier he turned to survey the area or targets, finding nothing but wreckage, debris and wounded.

He looked across to a Scythian marine who had been hit in the arm, screaming in pain, while the SIBAS suit had tourniquet the wound above where he had been shot nothing could stop the deadly radiation from Ereberus's twin suns from decaying every cell in his body.

He had been one of the newest to the unit, less than five years in the service - the Field commander had filed him as KIA before he finished screaming, an his body decomposed and turned to ash inside his own Armor.

Looking across the ice, the same happened to every corpse in the field, stage-1 of the mission was a succeed or die scenario - because if you failed, there would be nothing left to return home except empty husks and the whispers of the dead.

Harkins turned and huffed as he followed Larrisa taking point, the fire group quickly and silently moving to its next objective.

Of the 120 Scythian Marines, the 98 that remained moved towards the comms tower as the Orpheus contingent spread back into the distance, they had their own set of targets to move onto - and the Marines had to concentrate on their own. As Larrisa, Harkins and Quaram moved towards the tower, they could already see the closest of the three man teams using breaching explosives to blast away the thick titanium doors and disappear inside.

It had been obvious long before the Marines had been sent in via stealthed freighter that the Immortals had not only wiped out the defense forces, but had then set up shop within the former Scythian facilities, comms towers now flowed with encrypted Immortal data channels, Scythian bases now filled with Immortal troops. The core of the operation was to disrupt, deceive and destroy. After his team wiped out this tower and gained acce-

FA-KROOM!

The explosion had ripped a perfect sphere of vacuum out of the side of the tower as screams filled the TEAMCOMM radio channels, three men down and another six injured.

Before Harkins team even reached the stub of a building, another two blasts could be felt as low rumbles through the ice.

More screams, more dead, more pain.

One voice over-rode the TEAMCOMM channel, the Marine units commander, a lifer-marine by the name of Tarrask.

"Attention all teams, it looks like the Immortals left us some parting gifts, it looks like they left Black Hole grenades with proximity fuses throughout the building - proceed with caution, and a free drink from me to anyone who manages to diffuse and bring one back in one piece. Now move out!"

With this order, and a renewed cautiousness to the mission, Harkins, Larrisa and Quaram reached the outer wall and moved slowly towards the wrought-open blast door, and then turned inwards towards the darkness.

(Warhead, I can only hope this does the idea we cooked up together in chat some justice.)

Across the vast field of ice, a solitary figure sat un-noticed by all - quite a feat considering that he was wearing a standard Immortal environment and in front of a two meter long anti-tank rifle.

Loveless long ago became accustomed to situations like this, it was all part of his gift, after he had discovered long ago that he had the ability to remove his presence from the minds of others. It was this gift that allowed him to hunt the hyper-violent predators of his barely bronze age home-world as a teenager, and then hunt the Immortal soldiers that came from the skies to harvest the vast forests and turn his world into a hunting preserve.

And then the Immortals themselves turned up, the enemies that died over and over again at his hands, until he couldn't run or hunt any more - and on that day he died . . .

. . . and came back.

Now an Immortal elite himself - he had been returned with an offer and a promise - he could hunt anything, anywhere and any way he wanted - provided he also put his gifts towards the Emperors will, taking out enemy leaders and politicians, and in this case, enemy targets of opportunity.

With his psychic abilities shielding him from the minds of others - the squadron of 10 Orpheus Super-Hover Tanks pounded over the horizon, their Antimatter fueled induction engines allowed them to blast over the edge of the ice field at extreme speeds.
"And now, time to get to work . . . " Loveless thought to himself grimly as he drew sights on the first tank.

With a sharp yank of the trigger, the Immortal anti-tank rifle let rip with a specially designed black hole shell. Barely bigger than a mans thumb, the shell collided with the Orpheus leading the charge and detonated - creating a fairly impressive gravity well where the front of the mighty tank used to be.

In a split second the pilot and gunner of the mighty tank where crushed inwards, along with several inches of Armour plating, control panels and circuit boards. A moment later the black hole destabilized - causing a wild graviton blast that imploded the rest of the doomed tank, sending chunks of titanium and flame in every direction.

With a sharp yank of the receiver, Loveless loaded the next shell and prepared to fire on the scattered and confused tanks in the aftermath.

The facilities power had been knocked offline early in the landfall - as Harkins boots hit the ice with 120 other marines the communication centres power had been taken out by a rouge blast from a Pathfinder APC and had plunged the entire base into darkness - a darkness which the Scythian marines now steadily decended into.

Only the built in night vision functionality of their SIBAS powered armour stopped the darkness from becoming overpowering as Harkins, Larissa and Quaram moved down tight, claustrophobic tunnels and walkways towards the primary antenna array.

The base was also quiet - too quiet considering that a full Immortal contingent force had recently occupied these corridors and halls . . . and as Harkins progressed, all he could he think was that there really should have been a sign of life by now-

BLATTA!BLATTA!BLATTA!BLATTA!

He had turned the corner rifle raised and ready to fire - but his train of thought had been distracted and he had allowed himself to be a split second target.

He backed up and around the corner with his rifle firing off snap-rounds in the dark as Immortal flachette rounds bounced and clanged off of his armour.

"Unknown number of targets, most likely regular troops but dug in . . . Quaram, time to send in the bugger"

Quaram nodded inside his own armour as he placed his P.A.V.L MK-II to the ground and unclipped a large backpack style container from his SIBAS suit. After pressing in an indented panel, the whole box came to life as short wisps of steam and particles ejected from its sides and a small digital panel revealed itself.

After a few small taps - the sides of the box unfolded into 8 mechanical legs around a roughly rectangular torso with a single green eye, the underside then unclipped into a smaller version of a Scythian Laser Carbine. The machine jittered from left to right as its AI finally came online, and then photo-reactive panels followed, rendering the machine invisible to the naked eye.

"Scout ahead"

A small green status light flickered up on the three squad members holographic screens followed by a picture in picture in the upper right area of their views as the drone skittered its way up the wall and proceeded down the corridor ahead of them by latching onto the ceiling and using the pipe work above them as a tentative handhold for its advance.

Eventually the bugger had managed to position itself over the five Immortal troopers at the end of the corridor, faceless individuals who where most likely as deep in their own sweat as Harkins; desperately attempting to set up some form of tripod mounted heavy cannon ahead of the advancing Scythian marines.

“Looks like one of those heavy Flachette launchers O.N.I briefed us about, I say we bug ‘em.” Quaram suggested with a snide grin.

“Just gimme the cue and we’ll double time ‘em’” Larissa said as she hefted up her rifle to her shoulder.

“Bugger – Select highest threat target and arm weapon”

Silently above the Immortal soldiers, the drone shifted its legs around and aimed its laser carbine directly between the eyes of the unwitting soldier.

“Bugger – KILL!”

The drone let rip instantly, causing the soldier to suddenly end at the middle of the neck. As his corpse hit the ground, Harkins and Larissa turned the corner with their rifles raised and fired down the corridor, causing the remaining four Immortals to dive for cover and scrabble out of the way.

Unfortunately for another soldier – the Bugger acquired its next target and opened fire on an Immortal soldier who caught on his belly while trying to escape.

“Drone requesting permission to track and engage targets.” The Bugger questioned in blank monotone over the squad radio channel.

“Bugger, remain stationary – switch to guard mode.” Quaram replied as he hefted up his P.A.V.L MK-II and proceeded around the corner.

“Lets see if we can tag this thing for retrieval – O.N.I would love some extra Immortal toys.” Quaram stated as he approached the middle of the corridor.

“Careful, look out for booby traps” Harkins muttered under his breath as he approached carefully down the corridor with his rifle still raised in hesitation with Larissa a step behind.

“This bloody Immortal shit – doesn’t look like much but it sure backs a fucking punch . . . “ Quaram said as he approached the half-deployed weapon.

“Doesn’t matter anyhow – lets just make sure it isn’t loaded and tag it for the R+D boys” he muttered, finishing his own sentence as he reached down to the SIBAS armours utility belt and retrieved a small automated transmitter and lent down to set it next to the Immortal cannon.

Within a split second, all three members of the squad received a radiation warning and shifted back.

“Quaram, get back here!” Larissa yelled as she turned to face behind the group.

“Fuck, fuck, FUCK! Where is the bomb?!” Quaram yelled as the cannon behind him started to bend and warp.

In that split second a hidden black hole explosive within the base of the cannon activated and annihilated everything within a 5 meter radius of itself, bulkhead doors and floors disappeared into a pinprick sized black hole that devoured itself before it could fully form.
Taking Quaram’s left leg with it.